Despite appearing in an ungodly amount of sequels, Michael Myers was never scarier than he was in the original Halloween. The eerie stillness, combined with the spray-painted William Shatner mask, created one of the most iconic bogeymen in cinema, and a lot of that is down to the actor playing Michael, Nick Castle. Castle was a close friend of director John Carpenter and co-writer of Escape From New York and since hed had some dance experience he was asked to play the character. He brought Michaels robotic body language to the film, and the famous moment Michael looks curiously at the pinned body was an improvised moment onset. It probably sounds easy playing a character who stands still and doesnt say anything, but fans only need to compare the actors who followed Castle to see he brought something special to it. Theyre all lumbering movements and frenzied slashing, while he was precise and graceful.
